governance

Cities have collaborated with other levels of government in the formulation of economic policies, although at this stage, coordination in the formulation of such policies is not as common as health policies Health in caring for and monitoring patients treated for coronavirus in their homes. It planned for 16 Sisol facilities, located around the city of Lima, to be used for the collection of samples from suspected cases of COVID-19.9 In Kenya, city authorities and officials in the most affected areas have worked with the national government to undertake a variety of responses to the crisis: constructing emergency health facilities and distributing food in Mombasa,10 for example, enforcing the nationwide curfew in Kisumu11 and promoting social distancing in Kiambu.12 In South Africa, COVID-19 lockdown regulations were jointly enforced by metropolitan police departments, national police services and national defence forces.13 In Albania, municipalities and other local public structures engaged with central ministries during the early stages of the crisis to receive guidelines and cooperate over key areas such as maintaining order and safety.14

Cities have also collaborated with other levels of government in the formulation of economic policies, although at this stage, coordination in the formulation of such policies is not as common as health policies. Nonetheless, in Iceland the national government and local municipalities are initiating a special investment programme within the framework of the economic response package to the COVID-19 crisis. The investment programme will focus on transport and public works, with some additional financial support for the tourism sector.15

Vertical coordination between cities and other government levels has also been observed in addressing wider social challenges caused by the pandemic through various social protection and support policies. In the US, New Orleans partnered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide food to vulnerable families.16 In the Dominican Republic, the national government defined a municipal-level subsidy in the form of an economic labour benefit for informal workers which would permit them to stay at home. This benefit, created by the Ministry of Finance, grants a transfer of RD$5,000 (equivalent to US$93) for all beneficiary households and an additional RD$2,000 (US$37) for households where the head is older than 60 years.17 The range of collaborative social support actions between various levels of government also extended to burial arrangements: in Ecuador, the mayor of Quito coordinated with national-level bodies such as the Criminalistics and Forensic Medicine Unit of the National Police and the Civil Registry to promptly deal with the huge number of casualties.18

Looking at the scale of collaboration, it is evident that cities engaged with higher levels of government both on an individual and a collective basis. The former refers to where a city coordinated its actions directly and independently with another level of government, while the latter is where coordination is undertaken collectively between several cities (for example, through an alliance of local authorities or pre-existing metropolitan arrangements) and another government level. This was the case with Mexico City, which entered into close cooperation with the state government to coordinate the capacity of hospitals in the region.19 In contrast, vertical coordination has also taken place collectively through city alliances: in Spain, the Federation of Municipalities and Provinces is playing an important role in the management of the pandemic and has been regularly meeting with the national government to draft agreements for the post-pandemic recovery.

4.2.2. Horizontal coordination: Metropolitan, regional and territorial governance

In addition to vertical coordination, cities have also engaged in horizontal coordination with other cities, neighbouring municipalities, and small towns. As COVID-19 and other crises do not recognize local administrative and territorial boundaries, specific multilevel governance approaches are necessary for a proper implementation of mitigation measures. Consequently, metropolitan and regional governance partnerships have been